ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Wednesday stayed the Quetta local government elections scheduled for December 28, 2025, after an appeal challenged the delimitation of constituencies based on the 2017 census.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan and comprising Justices Ali Baqir Najafi and Aamer Farooq, issued the interim order on an appeal jointly filed by registered voters Qadir Shah and Munir Ahmed.
The appellants argued that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) conducted delimitation using outdated 2017 census data, despite the official notification of the 2023 Digital Census on August 7, 2023. They cited Section 17(2) of the Census Act 2023, Article 140A of the Constitution, and Article 8, questioning the legality of holding elections on outdated population figures.
During the hearing, the FCC questioned how local government elections could be conducted in 2025 based on the 2017 census and whether the provincial government had been consulted on the election schedule. Upon learning that no consultation had taken place, the bench issued the interim stay and adjourned proceedings until the third week of January 2026.
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The appeal also criticized the ECP and provincial election authorities for alleged irregularities in the delimitation process, claiming that rural areas such as Sariab and Panjpai were unjustifiably classified as urban and that some constituencies were gerrymandered to favour specific individuals. It highlighted issues with electoral rolls, including voters being arbitrarily assigned to wards other than those in which they reside, potentially preventing candidates from contesting.
The Federal Constitutional Court on Wednesday stayed the Quetta local government elections scheduled for Dec 28, 2025, after an appeal challenged the delimitation of constituencies conducted on the basis of the 2017 census.https://t.co/1fst4Lc5eB
— Dawn.com (@dawn_com) December 25, 2025
The petition maintained that the Balochistan High Court (BHC) had erred in dismissing the review application, asserting that the original October 10, 2025, judgment ignored jurisdictional defects and wrongly assumed that delimitation had been conducted according to the 2023 census. It further argued that the high court’s classification of delimitation as a “policy matter” immune from judicial review contradicted Supreme Court rulings, which hold that violations of mandatory statutory provisions in delimitation are justiciable.
Additionally, the petition pointed out that essential prerequisites for holding local government elections, including infrastructure, notified village or neighborhood councils, rules for the direct election of mayors, and designated venues for council meetings, were still missing, rendering the process premature and unlawful.
Earlier, on December 10, the ECP had rejected a petition by Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti seeking a postponement of the elections due to law and order concerns and suspension of internet services.
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